south/southwest and light rain falling there. there's heavier rain beginning to approach the metro area out of the south and west, that area of yellow and orange is moderate to heavy rain coming out of fauquier county, stafford, and spotsylvania and orange county farther to the south and west. that's advancing to the metro area. it should be moving on into the immediate metro area the next 24 hours. it's balmy around most of the region. from the blue ridge west, shenandoah valley into the mountains, low to mid-50s. all these areas in green under a flood watch. this is the first part of the storm. the one-two punch. punch one is rain. could get enough rain to cause flooding in northern virginia and much of the area. we also have a winter storm watch now out in parts of western maryland and a winter warning out in the far western part of western maryland and northern west virginia. they could get over six inches of rain in some of the high

ridges. here's your day planner. we'll have occasional showers. temperatures falling down in the afternoon. a look at the evening planner and our chances for snow tonight. that will be coming up in about ten minutes. danella, how's traffic? >> good morning. the rain is really going to be a headache for you as you make your commute this morning. let's start with the beltway. taking the outer loop of the beltway as you make your way toward connecticut avenue following the exit on the right side of the roadway. shoulder lane, you're going to see an accident there. other parts of our area look really good except for slick roadways, low visibility. give us extra time as you make your commute. this time we're taking a look in virginia. here's a look at fairfax county parkway, i-95, as you make your way towards 395. as you continue on to 395, here's a look at seminary road. again, not seeing any accidents on our roadways. again, rough conditions. give yourself extra time as you head out of the house. >> danella, thanks very much. new from overnight,

firefighters try to figure out what sparked a fire in montgomery county. this happened on holt place in takoma park. firefighters say the home was very cluttered, which made it harder to put the flames out. one man was hurt, and we're working to learn his condition. republican candidate mitt romney has opted out of a debate. romney called trump personally and said he just could not make it happen. several prominent republicans have urged candidates to skip the trump debate. they predict it will be a media circus and take them away from issues. trump's office issued a statement saying, "it would seem logical to me that if i was substantially behind in the polls, especially in iowa, south carolina, and florida, i would be participating in the debate, but i can also understand why governor romney would do it." jon huntsman and ron paul have

also decided not to do it. that leaves newt gingrich and rick santorum debating just each other for now. more news for presidential hopeful newt gingrich. he has a double digit lead in the latest poll out this morning. "the new york times"/cbs news poll found gingrich in the lead with 28%, followed by romney with 18% and ron paul with 14%. but many could change their mind before the caucuses on january 3rd. gingrich may be surging in the polls, but he may not make the republican ballot in ohio. his campaign is struggling to find enough signatures to meet today's 4:00 p.m. deadline. gingrich already missed the filing deadline for missouri's primary ballot. republicans are presenting their own plan for the payroll tax cut to avoid raising taxes on the wealthy. instead they want to use a gradual increase on medicare premiums for wealthy seniors and

include a provision to cut medicare payments to doctors by nearly 30%. president obama and democrats want to pay for the extension with higher taxes on the wealthy. the white house says taxes for the average family would go up by $1,000 if these payroll cuts are not extended. today is the 70th anniversary of the attack on pearl harbor. on the morning of december 7th, 1941, japanese war planes attacked the navy base in hawaii, killing 2,400 americans. then president franklin d. roosevelt called december 7th a date which will live in infamy. ceremonies will be held across the country today to remember the day the u.s. entered world war ii. here in the d.c. area, flags will be flown at half staff today. there will also be wreath laying ceremonies at the national world war ii memorial and the national navy memorial. two new board members at the

metropolitan authority will attempt to be seated even though the board would deny the votes. the board is required to add four new members, including two appointed from the commonwealth of virginia. board members say the law is unconstitutional because it forces the airport authority to overhaul its board without approval from virginia and the district. the board says it will go along with the new law once virginia and d.c. amend the rules that govern the authority. 4:36 now. within the next month, former prince george's county executive jack johnson is headed to prison for what prosecutors call one of the most notorious corruption cases in maryland history. a judge sentenced johnson to more than seven years in prison. we saw him use a cane for the first time. his lawyers say the former prince george's county executive now has parkinson's disease and asked the courts for leniency in the sentence. instead, a federal judge went with the recommendations of prosecutors. johnson apologized in court, but even close friends say what johnson did was inexcusable and

a setback for the county. >> the economic aspect of it, i think, limited development, scared away legitimate developers who were interested in coming and building and helping with growth in prince george's county. >> jack johnson's wife leslie johnson will be sentenced friday for her role in the corruption case. the former prince george's county council member pled guilty to destroying evidence. jack johnson had her flush a developer's $100,000 check down the toilet and stuff nearly $80,000 cash in her underwear. we're learning more people connected to johnson's corruption case. the head of the prince george's county hospital system has to step down while investigators look into his involvement. this morning "the washington post" is reporting that kenneth glover took a leave of absence as ceo of dimensions health care system. prosecutors say that johnson tried to line up a consulting job connected to the hospital for himself. in exchange, johnson would help an unnamed hospital official get

a high ranking management position. fredericksburg is now getting federal funding to repair public buildings damaged in the east coast quake. city officials estimate at least $64,000 in damage was done to the city owned buildings in the 5.8 magnitude quake, and that includes a collapsed chimney at the fredericksburg museum, damaged ceilings at the district courthouse, and cosmetic damage to city hall, library, and circuit court. as of now, city residents aren't eligible for the aid. ahead on "news 4 today," a message of hate turning up in [ female announcer ] at verizonfios.com,

you can choose your channel package. ♪ you can choose your own internet speeds. ♪ you can even choose to chat with a live person. ♪ now you can choose to save $35 a month for fios tv, internet and phone for just $79.99 a month, plus get a $300 verizon visa prepaid card with a 2 year agreement. but hurry, offer ends soon only at verizonfios.com. contact the verizon center for customers with disabilities at 800-974-6006 tty/v.

good morning. time for weather and traffic on the ones. i'm meteorologist tom kierein in stormcenter 4. at 4:41, we've got a lot of rain across northern virginia, the area of yellow and orange, moderate to heavy rain. prince william into southern fauquier, culpeper, spotsylvania, stafford counties, and farther south. it's just light rain around washington and the immediate suburbs around maryland. temperatures right now are mild.

we're in the upper 50s to around 60 degrees. farther to our west, shenandoah valley into the mountains, low to mid-50s. all these counties in green under a flood watch this afternoon and evening. could have high water. watch out for creeks and streams coming out of their banks throughout much of the region. we have a winter weather advisory just issued. it includes howard, montgomery, and loudoun counties, and areas right around the blue ridge and points west. some of the higher ridges could get over six inches of snow tonight way out in the mountains. sunrise 7:13 today. here's your day planner. occasional rain through the day. this morning we'll hold steady, upper 60s to near 50. then drop in the 50s noontime, 40s late afternoon. this evening we'll have rain, likely changing over to sleet and snow. that will continue through the rest of the evening into predawn hours tomorrow. i'll show you the snow totals i expect in ten minutes. danella, how's traffic? >> good morning. a couple of problems in montgomery county. let's start with dale drive and colesville road. we have a downed tree that's also taking down some wires as well.

that roadway is closed. if you're on dale drive, you cannot access colesville road. taking the beltway, outer loop at connecticut avenue. the accident here takes away three of your right lanes. got to stick to the left to get by. police are on the scene. we can see you are using caution as you pass the accident here. other roadways look a lot better, but still slick conditions. traveling on i-66, not seeing any problems inside or outside of the beltway. joe and eun, back to you. >> thank you, danella. 4:43. 61 degrees. still to come, no time for games. the star from 30 rock finds himself waiting for another flight after a run-in with a flight ugh, time to color. woohoo! whoa. haircolor is a chore no more! you gotta come see what's new. c'mon!

tadaaa! welcome to haircolor heaven. aa-ah-ahhh! courtesy of new nice 'n easy colorblend foam. permanent, dimensional color, now in a delightful foam! just three shakes, foam it, love it! simply saturate hair root to tip, front to back. with tones and highlights. it's foamtastic! home haircolor, make room for foam haircolor! new nice 'n easy colorblend foam. your right color.

today disgraced former

illinois governor rob blagojevich will speak before receiving his sentence. yesterday he admitted he was guilty on all charges. blagojevich was found guilty on all 18 counts of corruption. prosecutors are asking for 15 to 20 years in prison, which will be harshest punishment for corruption in state history. today two of the most prominent candidates in virginia's u.s. senate race will square off in their first debate. democrat tim kaine and george allen will debate in richmond. they're not the only candidates in the race. they are, however, the only candidates to do well enough in polls and raise enough money to qualify for the debate. both are looking to succeed jim webb, who announced he's not running for re-election. candidates campaigning in fairfax county can no longer litter streets with their campaign signs.

last month many of the 99 candidates in fairfax county blanketed roadsides with their advertisements. a virginia code allows authorities to remove the signs along vdot right of ways, except for fairfax county. it was exempt from the code until now. the board of supervisors unanimously approved legislation, ending the county's exemption. it's also working with the state to get more illegal signs off medians. several area police departments are investigating a possible hate crime after anti-semitic fliers were found in a northern d.c. and virginia neighborhoods. they first turned up a week ago saturday, but at least two residents on north 25th street in arlington found the sheets lying next to their newspapers. others were found in cleveland park and dupont circle in northwest washington. the fliers came the jewish people have taken over the world

and altered the asxis of the earth. >> i have lived here most of my life. i have never seen anything that approximates or any hint of anything that comes off of this flier. it was totally, thoroughly shocking. >> we certainly hear of anti-semitic rants and ravings going on, but we don't think of it happening here. >> the fliers have been turned over to police in both d.c. and arlington. a viewer tells news 4 the fliers have also showed up in north takoma park, maryland. hopper says she's taking her flier to the anti-defamation league. this morning the federal aviation administration is looking for a new leader. 65-year-old randy babbitt resigned tuesday days after police arrested him for drunk driving. officers spotted him driving the wrong way in fairfax over the weekend. in a statement babbitt said, quote, he was unwilling to let anything cast a shadow on the work by his colleagues at the faa. jerry sandusky may face his accusers next week in a preliminary hearing after one

attorney says his client plus five others plan to testify. the move comes as another alleged victim says he was sexually abused by the former penn state football coach when he was 12 years old. the now 19-year-old says that he also met sandusky through the second mile charity. sandusky is accused of sexually abusing eight boys over 15 years. he denies the charges. the preliminary hearing is set for next tuesday. and penn state university is trying to revamp its image in the wake of that scandal. newly appointed president rodney erickson says he wants the campus to house a national center for the protection of children to help victims of abuse. the center would be initially funded with part of $2 million in college football bowl proceeds. the school is slated to receive from the big ten conference. penn state typically funnels the bowl revenue back into the athletic department. the federal government could decide today whether to lift the age restriction on who could buy the morning after pill. the fda is considering a request from the drug's manufacturer to

allow teens under the age of 17 to buy the birth control without a prescription. the drug maker says the move would lower the rate of abortion. conservative groups oppose the proposal. they say the drug should not be available without a doctor's permission or parental consent. women with breast cancer may want to rethink their treatment options. research found that women who had the partial radiatn treatment were twice as likely to need the whole breast removed later because the cancer came back. the shorter treatment uses radioactive pellets briefly placed in the breasts instead of radiation beamed from a machine. doctors still say more research is needed. actor alec baldwin was kicked off an american airlines flight in los angeles for refusing to stop playing a video game. baldwin said he was playing words with friends on his ipad when a flight attendant asked him to turn off the device. the plane was parked at the gate at the time. when he didn't comply, the "30 rock" star was asked to leave the plane. the american airlines flight was

delayed for about 45 minutes. at least one other passenger on board says he thinks the move to kick baldwin off the flight was a bit drastic. >> i didn't think there was a problem. i actually felt alec baldwin was turning off his devices. he just got a little angry. that's about it. >> baldwin later took a flight with the same airline. after landing in new york, he posted a picture on twitter of a fake words with friends game. it read let alec play with a score of baldwin 1, american airlines 0. the capitol christmas tree lighting did not go off without a hitch. >> three, two, one. come on. >> house speaker john boehner flipped on the lights on the west lawn of the capitol building last night. they stayed on for about a minute then abruptly went dark. the 10,000 l.e.d. lights stayed off for about 12 minutes then

came back on. aides believe a bad circuit breaker was the problem. you can see the capitol christmas tree every night until new year's day. it will be lit up daily at dusk until 11:00 p.m. >> very colorful. very beautiful. that's about the skinniest tree i've not seen in my life. that's a very narrow little tree. >> i wonder if the weather had anything to do with some of the issues we had yesterday. >> we're going to have big changes. are your seat belts fastened? are your seat backs in an upright position? we're in for a bumpy ride. good morning. i'm meteorologist tom kierein. here's a view of our skyline. we've got light fog and rain falling at reagan national. a balmy morning with light southerly wind. look at the radar. all this color is rain. right now getting moderate to heavy rain just now coming into fairfax county and right down interstate 95 all the way down to fredericksburg and points west. there's a big area of moderate to heavy rain about to move into

the metro area the next few minutes. another batch of moderate to heavy rain in western maryland. areas of green and blue are lighter rain in montgomery and prince george's county. that's going to change shortly as the moderate to heavy rain moves on in. we're in the 50s from the mountains to the atlantic beaches, even 60s through maryland and virginia right now. we have these counties in green, nearby suburbs of washington, including washington, northern virginia, under a flood watch, as is the shenandoah valley and out into the mountains. we also have a winter weather advisory for this afternoon and evening. it includes howard, montgomery, loudoun county, northern fauquier, and points west. some of the high spots in the ridges of western maryland could get six inches of snow. sunrise 7:13. we have a mild morning. it will gradually get colder during the afternoon with more rain and maybe some flooding later this afternoon. watch out for high water. sunset at 4:46. then by midevening, we'll see the rain change over from sleet to snow after that. maybe a four or five hour period. we'll be down in the low 30s by

midnight. here the snowfall forecast totals we'll get from this storm. three to six inches, areas far to our west in that dark blue zone. lighter blue zone, northern suburbs, northern montgomery county, loudoun down to blue ridge, one to three inches. higher amounts up on the ridges. and washington just maybe a dusting in the nearby suburbs west and north of washington, including northwest washington, on grassy areas mainly. the road temperatures are all above freezing. then tomorrow cold and blustery winds. we'll have this cold, dry, but sunny weather continuing all the way into the weekend and first part of next week. danella, good morning. how's traffic? >> good morning. if you're traveling in montgomery county, we have breaking news at this time. if you're taking dale drive, we have a downed tree. with it, the tree brought down some wires as well. right now we have dale drive closed at georgia avenue and also closed at colesville road. be careful as you're making your commute traveling in that area. if you're traveling the beltway still in montgomery county,

seeing that accident just before the connecticut avenue exit right on the outer loop. it's on the right side of the roadway, taking away three of the lanes. use caution as you make your way past the accident. taking the beltway in virginia, a much nicer story. low visibility and wet roadways. give yourself extra time, but i'm not seeing anything on the inner loop or outer loop. wizards fans, get out your calendars. the team's shortened schedule is now out. the wizards will open their season the day after christmas at home against the new jersey nets. they also have a five-game home stand from january the 14th through the 22nd. another highlight, 11 of the team's 33 home games will be played on the weekends. that's convenient. the nba season had to be shortened, of course, to 66 games because of the owners' lockout of the players. it's official. redskins players fred davis and trent williams seasons are over. they were suspended for four games for violating the team's

substance abuse policy. williams failed several drug tests before being suspended. if either player fails another test, he will be suspended for the whole year. coming up, black friday and cyber monday are things of the past, but another big shopping day is just around the corner.

[ male announcer ] you haven't seen anything like pizza hut's new big dinner box. it's an epic-sized box filled with all your favorites. you get two medium one-topping pizzas,

eight intense wings, and five freshly baked breadsticks. why settle for just one of your favorites? get them all in one epic box. order the big dinner box today and call dinner done! only $19.99. and only at your pizza hut.

first there was black friday then cyber monday. now mark your calendar for free shipping day. the fourth annual day for the free shipping is next friday, december 16th. more than 1,500 retailers are expected to participate this year. customers won't pay extra for shipping and get their delivery by christmas eve. you can go to freeshippingday.com to find stores participating and also sign up to get a reminder by e-mail. you never have to pay for shipping online. there's always a coupon for some sort of deal. so now there's one day. >> that's good. that is a pain. >> it is. >> ns wallet. now here's something you don't hear every day. >> a cannonball hit a house. check this out. the crew from the tv show "mythbusters" was filming a bomb

firing range in california. it went off barrels of water, careened off a hillside, and went skyward before punching a melon sized hole in a house. it eventually smashed a window and dashboard of a parked minivan. no one was injured. the production company says it is assessing the situation and working with those whose property was damaged. aye, maties. that's why those things cause so much damage. >> who knew there were bomb firing ranges in california where you can blast cannonballs. now we know, joe. >> just avoid. don't walk your dog there. stay with "news 4 today." we continue at 5:00 a.m. a cluttered home leaves firefighters with challenging conditions overnight as they try to help the homeowner inside. you could run into trouble in several parts of downtown to